The final 16 of the tournament has been decided and we have seen some teams meeting our expectations while some were big surprises in the tournament.
The biggest losers were led by United States ranked number 5 by FIFA and Czech Republic seated at number 2 prior the start of the competition. We have also seen some higher rank teams like Japan (18), Tunisia (21), Iran (23), Croatia (23), etc… left behind by Switzerland (35), Ecuador (39), Australia (42), Ukraine (45) and Ghana (48).
This shows us that talent alone cannot win World Cup, but attitude and the heart are things not measured by any metrics that have seen countries like Australia forcing themselves inside the sweet 16.
The next stage debuts today with Germany taking on Sweden followed by Argentina – Mexico match. There are teams we should expect to perform best at the following days which included Germany, Argentina and Brazil.
Brazil is the team I expect to explode with Ronaldinho yet to score in the tournament. Ronaldo is finding his form and feel of the game once again having scored two goals in their last match, Kaka and Adriano continues to improve and show maturity and Ronaldinho providing the set plays for the team.
Brazil plays beautiful football and I am excited to see them raise their play in the final stages of the tournament.
Below is the list of teams that qualified and were booted out together with their FIFA rankings.
Big 16: Brazil (1), Netherlands (3), Mexico (4), Spain (5), Portugal (7), France (8), Argentina (9), England (10), Italy (13), Sweden (16), Germany (19), Switzerland (35), Ecuador (39), Australia (42), Ukraine (45), Ghana (48)
Bye, bye 16: Czech Republic (2), USA (5), Japan (18), Tunisia (21), Iran (23), Croatia (23), Costa Rica (26), Poland (29), Korea Republic (29), Côte d’Ivoire (32), Paraguay (33), Saudi Arabia (34), Serbia and Montenegro (44), Trinidad and Tobago (47), Angola (57), Togo (61)
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[tags]FIFA World Cup, World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2006, Germany, Brazil, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo[/tags]
